Brian's 1975 recording of "In the Back of My Mind" is being released...

[Mikie]

I think it's an interesting curio, but not something I'll need to listen to more than a handful of times.

I'll guarantee you this. I will listen to THIS track more often than 3 or 4 songs on "No Pier Pressure", which I've already listened to a handful of times.

[phirnis]

Don't care for it. Don't understand why Brian cut it. Don't understand why folks here care about it. Don't understand this desire to wallow in Brian's darkest days. Don't understand why it's a bonus track on NPP.

Give us Run James Run or Metropolis or even Danny Boy. Any day.

Folks care about it because it's music that moves them.

[Mikie]

Ugh.

I have less than no interest in Brian's "mysterious" vocal change of the mid-70s. He smoked a bunch of cigarettes and snorted a bunch of cocaine.

What a mystery! Who would have thought those things changed your voice?

Funny enough, there are some people don't believe coke and cigs did it, just like acid didn't eff up his brain!  And others believe he didn't do it by accident, but on purpose! Can you believe that sh*t?

[Sam_BFC]

Don't care for it. Don't understand why Brian cut it. Don't understand why folks here care about it. Don't understand this desire to wallow in Brian's darkest days. Don't understand why it's a bonus track on NPP.

Give us Run James Run or Metropolis or even Danny Boy. Any day.

Aw heey come on Wirestone!

Brian probably cut it in search of some of the pure joy that playing and singing and recording had brought to his life amid the growing pain that was towering around him at that time.  I find it a pure listening experience in this sense.  I like the humanity of it because the talent is still very evident, yet tempered by the technical flaws of the performance - I'm not explaining myself well am I...

And of course being where we are in 2015, it is a reminder of Brian's ultimate triumph.

That said, it is a slightly odd choice for a NPP bonus track, not that I'll complain.

You also raise an interesting point regarding the 'lost' tracks of the NPP sessions, particularly the intriguing Run James Run.  We know what happened to the Jeff Beck material of course.  Was there also a title mentioned that shared a name with a CATP track, or is my memory falling me?

[Wirestone]

Good memory!

"Until two weeks ago, I hadn’t seen him since 1974,” said Wilson, who reconnected with Chaplin to have him sing on Wilson’s next solo album, currently in the works. “It was great to see him again. He came into the studio and sang on one of my new tracks called ‘He Come Down’ -- he sang it great! It will be fun to have him at a few of our concerts.”

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/09/entertainment/la-et-ms-brian-wilson-jeff-beck-blondie-chaplin-tour-album-20130906

[Mike's Beard]

Don't care for it. Don't understand why Brian cut it. Don't understand why folks here care about it. Don't understand this desire to wallow in Brian's darkest days. Don't understand why it's a bonus track on NPP.

Give us Run James Run or Metropolis or even Danny Boy. Any day.

Folks care about it because it's music that moves them.

It's interesting to listen to for me because it's one of the last known recorded instances of Brian's original voice seeping though before his voice went to the dogs. It's hardly a great performance in itself (compared to the original, which is amazing) but worth owning all the same.

[RangeRoverA1]

Ugh.

I have less than no interest in Brian's "mysterious" vocal change of the mid-70s. He smoked a bunch of cigarettes and snorted a bunch of cocaine.

What a mystery! Who would have thought those things changed your voice?

Funny enough, there are some people don't believe coke and cigs did it, just like acid didn't eff up his brain!  And others believe he didn't do it by accident, but on purpose!

You both hit the nail on the head. Nothing cool or great about this, um, "performance". Sure, it's a curio, but I'd rather hear Dennis doing unconfident lead than Brian's drugged up, hoarse vocal acrobatics. His LY demos didn't sound *that* bad.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Don't care for it. Don't understand why Brian cut it. Don't understand why folks here care about it. Don't understand this desire to wallow in Brian's darkest days. Don't understand why it's a bonus track on NPP.

Give us Run James Run or Metropolis or even Danny Boy. Any day.

With you here. Historically it's a hugely important track but I hope it's Brian having fun in the studio. I sure as hell wouldn't play this to anyone except a hard-core fan.

[Jay]

Personally,  I prefer this version much more than the original. I really like the "new" section, with the piano key changes. I think it gives the song a more "mature" depth. It was in 1975 that The Beach Boys started to perform this song in concert with Dennis singing. I wonder if there was a consious descision to update or revive this song?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Personally,  I prefer this version much more than the original. I really like the "new" section, with the piano key changes. I think it gives the song a more "mature" depth. It was in 1975 that The Beach Boys started to perform this song in concert with Dennis singing. I wonder if there was a consious descision to update or revive this song?

I agree completely.

[BJL]

Good memory!

"Until two weeks ago, I hadn’t seen him since 1974,” said Wilson, who reconnected with Chaplin to have him sing on Wilson’s next solo album, currently in the works. “It was great to see him again. He came into the studio and sang on one of my new tracks called ‘He Come Down’ -- he sang it great! It will be fun to have him at a few of our concerts.”

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/09/entertainment/la-et-ms-brian-wilson-jeff-beck-blondie-chaplin-tour-album-20130906

One thing Brian has demonstrated with the last couple of projects is that he still sees an album as rightly having a consistency of tone, and that he is not above holding back material for the right future project. The fact that Brian Wilson, all through Getting in Over My Head and That Lucky Old Sun, was just sitting on a bunch of good songs he'd written in the mid-90s, waiting patiently for a Beach Boys reunion, combined with old interviews like this one, indicates to me that he probably has a stock of songs sitting around waiting for either a particular project or simply a more "appropriate" one. Brian himself has said that No Pier Pressure was intended  to be mellow and "not rock n roll" - so maybe the rock n roll songs were set aside, rather than not written.

[Beachlad]

Just curious is this owned by BRI or something that Brian owns himself. I just find it hard to believe BRI would let him release it on a non beach boys album<though there were 4 on the album>

[Wirestone]

Just curious is this owned by BRI or something that Brian owns himself. I just find it hard to believe BRI would let him release it on a non beach boys album<though there were 4 on the album>

They let him release the "Still I Dream of It" demo in 1995.

They let him release Carl's vocal on "Soul Searchin'" in 2004 (and the track used by the BB, for that matter).

[runnersdialzero]

Don't care for it. Don't understand why Brian cut it. Don't understand why folks here care about it. Don't understand this desire to wallow in Brian's darkest days. Don't understand why it's a bonus track on NPP.

Give us Run James Run or Metropolis or even Danny Boy. Any day.

Not very nice.

[Shane]

The last 20 seconds of this track keeps playing in my head, over and over.  I can't get over the alternate ending.  So much more than "drugged up vocal acrobatics". 

[Ron]

Just curious is this owned by BRI or something that Brian owns himself. I just find it hard to believe BRI would let him release it on a non beach boys album<though there were 4 on the album>

Maybe I'm naive but it seems like they let Brian do whatever the f*** he wants...  I guess the others could try to block it, but why?  It's something he wrote, something he recorded himself, by himself. 

The old way of doing it was, whoever paid for the studio time owned the damn recording! 

[John Manning]

Just heard the track his morning for the first time, and loving it. To my ears Brian's voice is like no other period in his career and I sense he's aiming for a kind of Harry Nilsson (maybe Randy Newman?) style of delivery. Whatever, it works for me and like one or two others I prefer it to the original (actually I prefer it to most of the other material on this album but that's for another thread…): that's something I don't recall feeling about any of his other covers of his own material, except perhaps Wind Chimes and Wonderful.

[Bill M]

Just got the Target CD last night & this is, by far, the best track.

[Gerry]

I can only imagine that Brian will be deeply touched that you think something he did ,off the cuff, in the studio, with an old song in 1975 is better than his current material that he took a year or two to record and put on his new album.

[Micha]

To my ears Brian's voice is like no other period in his career

To mine too, except for the falsetto which sounds like his old voice.

Sounds like he may be doing a lounge-y put-on,

That's what I think too.

I can only imagine that Brian will be deeply touched that you think something he did ,off the cuff, in the studio, with an old song in 1975 is better than his current material that he took a year or two to record and put on his new album.

Samuel Beckett never was as successful again as with "Waiting For Godot", which was sort of a throwaway, no matter how much effort he put in his later works. Stuff like that happens.

[runnersdialzero]

I can only imagine that Brian will be deeply touched that you think something he did ,off the cuff, in the studio, with an old song in 1975 is better than his current material that he took a year or two to record and put on his new album.

Two years of work doesn't guarantee better results or something. Sorry. By that logic, Axl Rose working on Chinese Democracy for over a decade would mean it's, like, the greatest album of all time.

[Outtasight!]

Sounds like the big band ideas which Brian recorded for Adult Child, I wonder if the idea for that album was perculating at that point and a more jazz inflected recording of this song was being considered.

[John Manning]

I can only imagine that Brian will be deeply touched that you think something he did ,off the cuff, in the studio, with an old song in 1975 is better than his current material that he took a year or two to record and put on his new album.

How should I think then, please?

[buddhahat]

This place is priceless. People get would up because Brian's new album has received some poor reviews from both professional journalists and, shock horror, fellow smiley smilers. I can almost understand this. I know how easy it is to take reviews personally when it's something you love (Paul Morley's review of BWPS, anyone?)

However, an unreleased piano demo has surfaced of Brian revisiting one of his more interesting compositions and unbelievably SSers are calling out other SSers for expressing their enthusiasm? Are there people here that haven't twigged that, with a catalogue as diverse as the BBs, BB fans can enjoy very different, even polar opposite, corners of the catalogue?

And news flash people: just because creativity stems from a dark place, it doesn't mean that a) it can't be emotive and beautiful and b) those that enjoy it are celebrating the tragedies behind the art.

Your Runaway Dancer is my ITBOMM '75 demo. Deal with it.

[John Manning]

This place is priceless. People get would up because Brian's new album has received some poor reviews from both professional journalists and, shock horror, fellow smiley smilers. I can almost understand this. I know how easy it is to take reviews personally when it's something you love (Paul Morley's review of BWPS, anyone?)

However, an unreleased piano demo has surfaced of Brian revisiting one of his more interesting compositions and unbelievably SSers are calling out other SSers for expressing their enthusiasm? Are there people here that haven't twigged that, with a catalogue as diverse as the BBs, BB fans can enjoy very different, even polar opposite, corners of the catalogue?

And news flash people: just because creativity stems from a dark place, it doesn't mean that a) it can't be emotive and beautiful and b) those that enjoy it are celebrating the tragedies behind the art.

Your Runaway Dancer is my ITBOMM '75 demo. Deal with it.

Yeah!